No-Knead Bread

This is the famous, NY Times no-knead bread recipe from Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC. And yes, I’m late to the party. The first time it was published was four years ago – in 2006. I don’t know what took me so long to embrace this method. I made it after dinner and by noon the next day it was ready for the oven – with minimal work and actual hands-on time. The long resting period replaces the kneading process, doing the work for you. All it takes is five minutes to bring the 4-ingredient dough together and start the process. Who doesn’t have five minutes to make fresh bread the way bread ought to be made? With wholesome ingredients we can pronounce and feel good about eating?

Flour, a small amount of yeast, salt and water are mixed together to form a ‘shaggy’ and very sticky dough. (I swap out half the white flour with Whole Wheat with good results.) The dough then sits on the counter for a 12-18 hour resting process. The next morning I turned out the dough folding it over a couple of times and allowed it to rise again for two hours. At which time it gets carefully ‘plopped’ into a large, pre-heated pot and covered to bake.

By noon – 18 hours later – the irresistible, distinctive smell of fresh, yeasty bread was wafting through my house. I ate a piece straight away, hot and steamy, smeared in cold butter. It has the best flavor and texture. Dense and chewy on the inside and crusty on the outside. Like artisan bakery bread. But so insanely easy.